


i drown in you

by sleepy_orange



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-19 04:11:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20324902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepy_orange/pseuds/sleepy_orange
Summary: A story of two people and how their love for water gave them each other.





	i drown in you

**Author's Note:**

> This is really indulgent, and my own ode to my love for the water and the ocean and swimming pools and these two boys. 
> 
> I have not written in almost 9 years. And this is unbetaed. At this point, I'm just really relieved to be able to get this out at all.

Junmyeon loves the water. 

He loves the turquoise and blue and inky blackness when the shallows passes to the depth of the ocean. He loves the sound of waves lapping on the sand and the feel of the wind on his face. He loves the waves washing over him, the current pulling him and the warmth that blankets him

So yes, Junmyeon loves the water. The only problem being that he doesn't know how to swim. Oh, he knows enough to keep himself afloat and dog paddle to safety. But not enough to actually be able to swim in the ocean without some sort of lifesaving gear on him. And he wants that freedom

Which is why he has been taking swimming lessons for the past few months. He's had to swallow his pride and join a beginner swimming class where he starts with blowing bubbles into the water. His town doesn't have an adult class, so his classmates are all children, and he gets used to 8 year old children blitzing past him in the water while he struggles with his hand pulls. What takes them 5 mins takes him 10.

He learns to float properly, he learns to tread water and kick and pull; and slowly over the next few months he learns breaststroke and freestyle and backstroke and finally, the current bane of his existence, butterfly. He's proud of his progress; it's slow but he's making them. 

***

Sehun loves the water. 

He's loved it since he was a child and his parents took him to the swimming pool during school holidays. He falls a little more in love when he snorkels for the first time and a whole new underwater world opened up to him. And he feels like he's found his purpose when he took his open water diving cert and discovered all the wonders that lie beneath the surface. 

He laughs at territorial clownfish that try to bite his fingers when he swims too close to their anemones. He chases after turtles bigger than the size of his head. He cries the first time he saw a whale shark emerge from the deep blue and pretends that it was just his mask fogging up.

The water is his element and he's good at it too - swimming. He's lean and broad, his muscles functional rather than just pretty to look at. He knows he looks good; diving from the board, cutting through the water, long legs kicking hard as he moves smoothly through it. He's a lifeguard at the pool, feels like there is no better job while he looks for something more permanent after graduating from university. And he knows that there are regulars that have figured out his shifts and come to swim only when he's working.

***

This is how they meet. 

Junmyeon comes to swim in the evenings after work, has found the exercise relaxing for him and preferable to running on the treadmill in the gym. He makes his way to the deep pool, passing by the two lifeguards on duty, already planning in his head the laps he would do. The water is warm when he enters and it instantly feels like all his muscles unclenches.

He starts his laps, taking deep breaths and focusing on his pulls. He's taking it easy tonight, simple breastroke pulls to get himself warmed up. Kick, blow out the air bubbles, push. Stretch out into a streamline. Flex his feet.

It's hypnotic and he falls into a bit of a headspace. He sees movement out of the corner of his eye when he comes up for breath - one of the lifeguards has gotten up and is walking up the bleachers. He puts his head into the water again, kicks, curves out his arms into a pull and comes back up - the lifeguard has stripped off his yellow shirt and Junmyeon can see the tantalising line of muscle down his back. His kick stutters, moving limply through the water. 

He shakes his head and focuses back into his laps, resolutely not looking up. He makes it halfway through the lap before he looks over again and the lifeguard is now doing push ups on the bleachers, skin glistening with sweat. He stands up from his set, stretches out his arms, the entire length of his body on display, and Junmyeon is so distracted by him that his mouth splutters open just as the momentum pushes him under water again.

Water enters his mouth, and he chokes.

***

And this is how Sehun tells it.

He's seen Junmyeon around; has seen a man in a work suit come in in the evenings and had his interest piqued. The man is handsome, his suit inexpensive, but cut well to accentuate his figure. He's small and short, shorter than Sehun at least. He has the roundest cheeks, the kindest eyes, the cutest nose scrunch when he laughs, and Sehun may or may not have a crush on this mystery man.

(He does.)

Chanyeol, his shift partner today, just laughs at him as he watches the man swim - "you've got heart eyes, bro". It's a different feeling for Sehun, to be the one watching someone instead of having the eyes on him while he swims. He's not used to it, to be honest. 

He's been trying to catch the man's attention the past few times he saw him, but his natural shyness, which comes out at the most inconvenient times, has stopped him from being successful. 

Chanyeol, the show off that he is, recommends just stripping off in front of the man to catch his eye. His logic is fail-proof - if the man looks over, he's interested or at least interested in men. If not, then Sehun just needs to get over himself and this crush and move on to the many other people who are interested in him.

He never said Chanyeol was a genius, but Sehun is desperate enough to take his advice.

Sehun gets up to stretch his legs, it's almost closing time for the pool and there are only 2 other people in the pool besides the man. He trusts Chanyeol to watch out for them. Walking slowly up the bleachers, Sehun pulls his shirt over his head when he reaches the top of the stairs. He flexes his back muscles, blushing slightly. He feels better knowing that there is hardly anyone around to witness his foolishness and embarrassment, but still resolutely keeps his eye on the evening sky.

Squashing his nervousness down, he gets into position and starts doing push ups. He ends his set and stands up, facing the pool as he stretches his arms overhead and finally allows himself to look at the water where the man is. 

Or was. Because the man has dipped below the surface. Somewhere a whistle blows.

***

To this day, Chanyeol still guffaws every time he tells the story of how Junmyeon and Sehun met. He laughs so hard he can hardly get the words out, slapping the person sitting next to him, usually Baekhyun, who has to bear the brunt of his joy.

No one else thinks it's that funny, but it's Chanyeol and they love him, so they laugh along. Sehun and Junmyeon just share exasperated, but fond, smiles over their friend.

Chanyeol was the one to pull Junmyeon out of the water, coughing and spluttering trying to get rid of all the water he swallowed. He can hear Sehun approaching him from behind, awkward in his anxiousness and worry. He checks Junmyeon over, makes sure he's breathing fine and hadn't hit his head, tells him to take a break and slaps his back before leaving to chase the other people out of the pool. He knows Sehun is there to make sure the man is fine and thinks it's the perfect opportunity to be a matchmaker. 

He grins as he walks away.

***  
"Hi."

"Hi."


End file.
